


Five People Who Called Jim Kirk "Son" and One Who Didn't

by elliephant



Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Family Drama, Friendship, M/M, Parent-Child Relationship, Past Child Abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-31
Updated: 2020-08-31
Packaged: 2021-03-07 01:02:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,123
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26208361
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/elliephant/pseuds/elliephant
Summary: Exactly what it says on the tin.Takes place throughout STXI and STID, disregards Beyond.
Relationships: James T. Kirk/Spock
Comments: 6
Kudos: 95





	Five People Who Called Jim Kirk "Son" and One Who Didn't

**Author's Note:**

> contains non-graphic depictions of child abuse in Part 2, referenced again in Part 4.

1 | Winona Kirk

Winona Kirk is pristine in her Starfleet uniform, hair tied back and eyes rimmed red as she stands in front of her boys. Georgie's looking at her, brows furrowed the way his father's used to. He's ten now, jaw just starting to square out, the beginnings of acne on the bridge of his nose.

"Won't be gone that long," she tells them. "Three years, back before you know it."

"Yeah," Georgie mumbles, sullen the way only a ten-year-old boy can be.

She bends down and presses a kiss to his forehead. "Take care of your brother, all right, Georgie?"

"'Course," he says, and she smiles at him.

Jimmy's another matter entirely. Barely six, barely up to her waist when they're both standing straight, he looks ready to burst into tears at any moment. He'll be as tall as Georgie when she gets back.

"Hey," she says, lifting his chin. "it's going to be okay. Back before you know it, right?"

He gives her a quick nod, and she smiles. That's her Jimmy. She smooths back his hair and kisses his forehead, too.

"It's going to be okay, son."

She stands, nods to Frank who's got a hand on each boy's shoulder, and turns to the shuttle.

2 | Frank Halley

"C'mon, son," Frank says, the scent of whiskey hard on his breath, and Jimmy winces back.

Frank's grip tightens on his collar. Jimmy hides his gasp and rushes his steps to match Frank's long strides as the man drags him from the police station.

"The fuck were you doing?" Frank tosses Jimmy into the house, slamming the door shut behind him. "The fuck did I do to deserve that, huh, kid? The fuck did I do to you?"

Jimmy keeps his eyes on the ground, keeps his mouth shut and his back to the walls. Makes himself as small and quiet as he can.

Frank grabs him by the shoulders and looks him in the eye. "That was my car, kiddo," he says.

"Wasn't yours." It slips out before Jimmy can stop it, and his eyes go wide.

Frank's eyes go wide, too, and suddenly Jimmy's on the floor, copper in his mouth and the grazes on his hands opening up again.

Car's gone, Sam's gone, and Jimmy's on the floor with his blood in his mouth.

3 | Leonard McCoy

Halfway into his first semester at the Academy, Jim stumbles into his dorm room, nose bloody and ribs bruised. It's 0300, Jim doesn't expect Bones to be awake, but he is. He's awake and pacing and fuck, when he faces Jim, he looks worried.

"You didn't have to wait up," Jim says, stumbling right past Bones to bed.

"The hell, Jim?" He sounds hoarse, tired, and Jim feels the remorse hit squarely in his stomach.

"Got into a fight."

"I never woulda guessed."

And then Bones is ambling over to him, any irritation replaced with a doctor's concern. "C'mon," he says, "let me see that."

Jim jerks his head away from Bones' outstretched hand. "S'fine," he says. "I've had worse."

"Surprisingly, that doesn't make me feel any better," Bones says. He has that look about him now, the stern, don't-fuck-with-me-I'm-a-doctor look.

Eventually, he says, "Son, I can't fix it if you don't let me."

Jim lets him.

4 | Christopher Pike

Pike finds him in a bar, like he did when they first met. The air smells like alcohol and sweat, like Friday night desperation, when Pike sidles into the seat beside his.

He doesn't need the I'm-disappointed-in-you talk on top of the dressing-down he got in Pike's office. And, surprisingly, it's not what he gets. What he gets is demoted to First Officer, but still on his ship. What he gets is, "if there's anyone who deserves a second chance, it's Jim Kirk."

Pike says, "It's gonna be okay, son," and suddenly Jim is six again, standing at a space dock and watching his mother leave.

Pike says, "It's gonna be okay, son," and Jim believes him.

5 | Alexander Marcus

It's not okay. Pike's dead, there's a fugitive in their sickbay, and they're at the edge of the neutral zone with a damaged warp core and Admiral Marcus on their viewscreen. 

"He's playing you, son," says the Admiral, "don't you see that?" and Jim knows that tone. Knows it like the scent of cheap whiskey and hardwood floors, like excuses for the welts around his eyes.

Spock's presence breaks against his, two feet from the Captain's chair, and Jim breathes. He breathes through Marcus's words, until he can think again.

"I'm gonna ask you one last time, son, lower your shields. Tell me where he is."

Jim breathes; and then Jim lies.

6| S'chn T'gai Sarek, cha Skon

"Spock tells me you are recovering well," Sarek says when Captain Kirk steps onto the veranda. Despite housing the man for the better part of the past standard month, they have had little opportunity to speak privately.

"Yes, sir," Kirk says, coming to a stop beside him. "I'm doing much better now."

"That is gratifying to know."

Kirk's lips twitch up. Silence falls between them.

Sarek observes Kirk from the corner of his eye. The man holds himself differently now from when Sarek saw him last, on the bridge of a starship orbiting his doomed world. Kirk is calmer, perhaps; more at ease. It is a change he has observed in his own son.

He suspets this man to be the cause of it.

"I actually came out here to thank you," Kirk says, "for letting me stay here."

"Thanks are unnecessary," Sarek replies automatically. Spock claims Kirk to be t'hy'la, and whether they actually are or not, the bond they share is clear, even to Sarek. It was only logical then, to offer his home to Kirk.

"Still," Kirk says, "thanks."

Sarek looks at Kirk then. He seems well, though Sarek knows most of the damage is internal, psychological, that Spock has spent many nights soothing them.

"You are k'war'ma'khon," Sarek says at length. "You are always welcome in my home."

Kirk's eyes widen just slightly, his mouth hanging open for the second before he remembers to close it. He most likely does not understand exactly what Sarek has said, but he smiles nonethless.

"Thanks," he says again, quieter this time. They lapse into silence.

Eventually, Spock will find them standing there, looking out over the sands of New Shi'Kar. He will tell them that the evening meal is ready. He will assist Kirk back inside and Sarek will follow. They will eat together in the quiet of his dining room. It will be the most Sarek has felt home since his planet turned to dust.

**Author's Note:**

> k'war'ma'khon - family, in the figurative sense


End file.
